The present invention relates to a wall mounted earplug dispenser and specifically to a transparent plastic bottle for storing earplugs and with the bottle including a built-in dispenser mechanism. The entire bottle and dispenser mechanism is detachably mounted on a wall bracket to allow for a user to easily dispense earplugs when desired.
In the prior art, wall mounted earplug dispensers have generally been quite complicated in structure. Reference is made to wall mounted earplug dispensers as shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,285,925; 5,372,278; 5,280,845 and 5,322,185.
As can been seen in the above referenced patents, the prior art structures have been quite complex and include separate permanent mechanisms for receiving earplugs and mechanical crank mechanisms to dispense the earplugs. These prior art devices have been quite expensive because of their complexity and such expense has limited their use in industry. In addition, these prior art earplugs have had problems of the earplugs jamming the mechanism when being dispensed and these prior art structures have included special adaptations to clear jams. It would be desirable to provide for the dispensing of the earplugs without complicated structures that can jam. In order to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art described above, a wall mounted earplug dispenser as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,229 was designed. The present invention provides for a number of improvements over that design.
U.S. application Ser. No. 5,954,229 (the disclosure of which in incorporated by reference) includes a simple structure for dispensing earplugs. The structure includes a wall mounted holder which is molded plastic and is relatively inexpensive. The holder is a single piece molded plastic mounted to the wall, only by screws or double sided tape the wall or positioned on a table. In addition, the earplugs are dispensed from a bottle member made of inexpensive plastic so that the bottle member can serve both as the shipping container and supply unit for the earplugs and the bottle can be disposable after use. In addition, a dispensing mechanism is mounted at the end of the bottle and again the dispensing mechanism is made of relatively inexpensive plastic material. The whole unit, including the bottle and the dispensing mechanism, can be disposable so that the entire structure may be disposed of after all of the earplugs are dispensed. The bottle member includes portions which interlock to the wall holder so that the bottle member may be slid into position and after all of the earplugs are dispensed the bottle member may be slid up and out and be replaced by a new bottle member.
The dispensing mechanism of the present invention includes an impeller located at the bottom of the bottle. Once the bottle is installed in the wall member, the impeller funnels earplugs into a series of openings in the impeller. The earplugs are carried along to a dispensing opening at the bottom of the bottle as the impeller is rotated by an integral knob member. The earplugs therefore lie on top of the impeller and are moved along by the impeller to the impeller openings and ultimately to the dispensing position. A simple rotation of the knob member by the user of the earplugs provide for the earplugs falling downward into the hand of the user as the impeller is rotated.